Life

Charlotte Church's Badass Comments on Feminism

by Carrie Murphy

Remember Charlotte Church, the classical/opera wunderkind singer from the late '90s? She dropped off the map for a few years (at least here in the U.S.) while she had two children with Welsh rugby star Gavin Henson, but she's back in the public eye in the U.K. with a new EP due to come out on August 19. In a new interview, she reveals how motherhood has made her realize her own feminism. She told The Telegraph:

I’d been a raving feminist all my life. I just hadn’t realised it, until reasonably recently. Until I had a little girl, really. And then everything started to annoy me — the way women are placed in the world began to really p— me off.

Church also talked about the toys that are available for boys and girls (she has both a son and a daughter):

For example: today, going shopping in town, I thought I’d get the kids a couple of bits and bobs and the boys’ toys are awesome – loads of cool things! But for girls it’s just image-obsessed crap. You’ve got all these ridiculous dolls, or you can paint your nails or do your make-up… It’s all based around image.I want to instil in Ruby [the idea that] who gives a damn what you look like.

Craig McLean, who wrote the profile of Church, tends to focus quite a bit on the fact that Church curses and smokes a lot during their interview, but he does portray Church as a freethinking adult, one who's done a lot of thinking about the way her child stardom has affected her life. I've never paid a lot of attention to Charlotte Church, but honestly, reading this profile of her just might make me a fan, especially considering that she says "I still want to revolutionise the world and I still think that that’s possible."